FMCB v1.

90 - release 2013/08/16
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What is FMCB?
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Free Memory Card Boot (FMCB) is a homebrew software which is designed to setup y
our PlayStation 2 console and provide you with a means of launching homebrew sof
tware, without the need for any extra hardware, modifications to your console or
dangerous tricks like the legendary swap trick.
FMCB was originally developed by Neme and Jimmikaelkael, but they have been kind
enough to provide me with access to its source code, for me to make some improv
ements to it.
What is FHDB?
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Free Harddisk Drive Boot (FHDB) is basically FMCB that gets installed onto the P
layStation 2 console's HDD unit. It does everything like FMCB does, but is meant
to be used with the Sony HDDOSD (Browser update v2.00).
Patched/modified copies of the HDDOSD may not work, although non-Sony disks are
supported by FHDB itself.
***Whether the hacked HDD OSD supports non-Sony disks or not depends on whether
it was modified to support non-Sony disks.***
Modifying or getting a pre-modified copy of the HDDOSD is not under this project
, which is why that topic will not be discussed here.
What does FMCB v1.9 offer?
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For mere humans:
*Smaller, faster and more stable. :P
*The HDD unit is now supported.
*The "Early Japanese"/PCMCIA units (SCPH-10000, SCPH-15000 and SCPH-1800
0) are fully supported.
*Chinese consoles are now supported (e.g. SCPH-50009).
*When you leave the CD/DVD tray ejected, FMCB/FHDB will not stall.
*Your play history will now be updated (The towers in the background of
the "Sony computer entertainment" screen should continue to grow taller and grea
ter in numbers)
Technical changes:
*Initialization code has been cut down.
*Some IRX modules (init.irx and chkesr.irx) have been removed (supercede
d by code that runs from the EE, like their Sony originals).
*DVD player selection code has been replaced with one similar to the one
used by Sony.
*The console initialization code has been replaced with a Sony-like vers
ion.
*CNF parsing code has been optimized.
*The memory map has been adjusted slightly, so everything now fits below
Sony's idea of "user memory" (below 0x00100000).
*Support for the Protokernel and all HDD OSDs have been added.
*(For the HDDOSD version of FMCB only) ELFs can be booted from any parti
tion on the HDD. The format of the path is <partition>:<full path to file on pfs
:/>. (e.g. hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/FMCB_configurator.elf).
This can be easily set using the included FMCB/FHDB configurator
.
*The CD/DVD drive will now be stopped if a normal ELF is started (Under
the assumption that most homebrew ELFs probably won't ever use the drive).
*The user's history file (the file which affects the towers within the "
Sony Computer Entertainment" startup screen) will now be updated whenever Playst
ation/Playstation 2 game/software discs are launched, as well as DVD video discs
.
*Reloading the OSD from within the OSD triggers a full reload of FMCB, b
ecause the protokernel OSDs seem to become really unstable after a few resets.
(I couldn't find out why... so a full memory wipe and reload by
the kernel is probably the best way to do it).
*The location of ESR will now be checked only when ESR is requested to b
e loaded.
*The embedded EELOAD module has been cleaned up, and loads at 0x00082000
instead (Like rom0:EELOAD does).
*FMCB has been split into two. The part of FMCB which remains resident w
ill be copied into its place during runtime, allowing the initialization part of
it to have the entire PlayStation 2 for initialization and drawing something ni
ce on the screen (Not done at the moment as it makes FMCB quite a fair bit large
r).
*Full support for the SCPH-10000 and SCPH-15000. Not only will it patch
up the SCPH-10000 v1.00 kernel fully (Applies OSD argument-passing patch), it al
so includes its own HDD support modules and can act as a replacement for the Son
y system driver update.
*Prototype support for the PSX. Its OSD is not supported, meaning that t
here will be no hacked OSD for the PSX.
*Supports non-Sony HDD units (Support for non-Sony HDD units within the
HDD OSD/browser v2.00 update depends on the HDD OSD itself).
*New FMCB configurator program which supports the HDD unit.
*Added support for the Chinese consoles (Magicgate region 09, folder let
ter C. e.g. SCPH-50009).
Other notes/known bugs/known issues:
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*HDDOSD v1.00 (Japan), v1.00 (USA) and v1.10 (USA) were tested. Other versions m
ay or may not work.
*The PSBBN is not supported.
*Although the HDDOSD is a requirement for using FHDB, it is possible to use FHDB
without the HDDOSD. However, if no valid HDDOSD installation is detected, FHDB
will power-off the HDD Unit and attempt to use the ROM OSD instead.
*Although the new FMCB configurator supports saving of the FMCB configuration fi
le to the HDD, only FHDB will be able to access it. Do not save the FMCB configu
ration file to the HDD if it is to be used with FMCB.
*USB support makes bootups slower. If you know what you're doing, you may remove
USBD.IRX and USBHDFSD.IRX from mc:/SYS-CONF for FMCB, and hdd0:__sysconf/FMCB f
or FHDB. However, doing so will mean that the recovery program (mass:/recovery.e
lf) cannot be accessed by FMCB/FHDB alone, along with anything that is stored on
USB devices.
*When ATA support is installed (installed whenever compatibility with the SCPH-1
0000, SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000 is required), FMCB will always attempt to load t
he HDD update from the HDD unit. There is currently no way to disable this. This
will also happen on Japanese expansion-bay units, if an installation of FMCB wh
ich was made with compatibility for the SCPH-10000, SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000 is
run on it.
*If you're copying the HDDOSD/PSBBN stuff over on your own, please ensure that y
our HDD has the FSCK program installed. The Sony utility disc would have done th
at for you nicely.
*If you wish to go back to entirely using the Sony stuff, use the Sony Utility D
isc to re-install the HDDOSD. The full FMCB installer installs a homebrew MBR, w
hich cannot be uninstalled.
*If used on a PSX, please switch off fast disc booting to boot discs. The CD/DVD
drive will inoperable if the OSD is not booted.
*The FMCB configurator's code is messy and I don't feel good about the way it cu
rrently works. I heard (and feel) that it's occasionally unstable, so please don
't do weird things with it like spamming on the load/save configuration buttons.
*The icon mapping is different for the HDD OSD. The early OSDs of the SCPH-10000
and SCPH-15000 on the other hand, totally do not support the text formatting sy
ntax. This means that the OSD cannot be nicely decorated and only normal ASCII c
an be used. This means that exchanging the configuration files for FHDB and FMCB
will result in cosmetic issues.
*On consoles without the DVD player installed (SCPH-10000 and SCPH-15000), launc
hing a DVD video disc/ESR-patched disc will cause the OSD to be re-launched with
the "BootError" argument... but without a hint that it was a DVD player that fa
iled to start (The "DVD player is not installed" message will not appear).
*When a program/game quits, the FMCB logo will not be shown before the OSD is lo
aded. This is so that it'll fit in with the design of the Sony OSD, but the trig
ger keys will still work like normal.
*ELFs cannot be launched from the hacked ROM OSD (Using the HDD OSD is fine) of
the SCPH-10000 and SCPH-15000 once the OSD has been re-launched (either via the
"reload configuration" option or when a game/program quits). Please press the RE
SET button to cleanly reset the console.
It might be caused by a problem with the early OSD itself, but it's curr
ently very difficult to determine the exact problem due to a lack of a working d
ebugger.
*Unfortunately, on the SCPH-10000 and SCPH-15000, the ROM OSD seems to crash if
a DVD video disc is launched and a DVD player isn't installed. This may be relat
ed to the above.
Credits
-------
Jimmikaelkael and Neme, the original developers and maintainers of FMCB.
l_Oliveria, for providing comments, being the solo tester for the early builds o
f FMCB, as well as providing information regarding compatibility for the SCPH-10
000, SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000.
krHACKen, for providing the resources I used for getting HDD OSD support working
(sample files and test results).
Someone who wants to remain anonymous.
...And all BETA testers!